The Darkest Part of the Forest
by Breezeh
Summary: The darkest part of the forest...maybe it wasn't the darkest after all. And maybe the ones who lived there weren't the ones with the darkest hearts. Maybe their reputation had deceived them. -oneshot-


**Summary: The darkest part of the forest…maybe it wasn't the darkest after all. And maybe those who lived there weren't the ones with the darkest hearts. -One-shot- **

**Just a quick one-shot that I thought up after re-reading the end of the Deathly Hallows. I can't stress it enough: ShadowClan is not evil! Seriously, the stereotyping is completely horrendous. This takes place during Midnight, by the way. See if you can guess whose POV it is! **

**Anyway…onto the story. **

…

I can feel my heart racing as I put one paw gingerly on the hard, black Thunderpath. I open my mouth to taste the air, but snap it shut as soon as I catch a whiff of the stale scent.

As I waited for the break of silence allowing me to cross, I thought about the punishment I would receive from Firestar if he found out what I was doing. Stupid mousebrain! If he's too afraid to send warriors to spy on ShadowClan, then I'd have to do it.

Finally silence settles across the Thunderpath and I bound quickly across, panting as I reach the other side. I can feel my black fur rising as fear prickles up my pelt, like tiny spiders dancing across my spine. I shiver. It was much colder than ThunderClan territory. After all, it was the darkest part of the forest.

The marshland feels strange, squishy beneath my paws. I am sure to walk quickly and keep my head down, because if a ShadowClan warrior were to see me…I shiver again, not wanting to think about the consequences. I had heard many tales as a kit of the brutality of ShadowClan, but I forced myself to swallow my fear as I padded onward.

When I reach a grove of small, thin trees, I halt and taste the air. A foul scent reaches my glands, perhaps even worse than the revolting stench of the Thunderpath monsters. I hiss softly under my breath as I approach the camp.

I dig my claws into one of the trees, sprayed with ShadowClan scent. I claw my way up, until I can perch on a low branch, hidden by the sparse, leaf-fall leaves. I peer down into the camp.

It is somewhat similar to ThunderClan camp, and I am surprised. I let my gaze travel across the clearing…past the well-stocked fresh-kill pile to the large rock in the center resembling the High rock.

A small tabby kit tussles in the grass with a white kit, while a long-legged tabby queen watches fondly, a few fox-lengths away. A dark gray tom comes up to the queen and touches his nose affectionately to hers before dropping a shrew beside her.

I cast my gaze across the clearing, right to the center, where a small gray and white tom sits; basking in the sunlight that easily penetrated the thin tree branches. A black tom, about my size, comes up and sits beside him. The gray and white tom begins to talk, and the apprentice listens intently.

Across the clearing, near a hollow log, a very small tabby tom, the size of an apprentice, focuses with a detached sort of concentration as he plucks a small thorn from a kit's paw. The kit gives a mew of pain, but it is over in less than a moment. The medicine cat then gives him a quick grooming before he bounds away, back to where his littermates are still wrestling in the grass.

A rustling from the bushes below startles me, and I grip tightly to the branch as the surprise nearly jolts me from my hiding spot. It is a patrol coming back, and each warrior carries a piece of fresh-kill. A smoky gray apprentice bounds over to the large rock. A few moments later, a huge white tom emerges from behind it. I shiver as the ShadowClan leader comes into view. The apprentice drops the prey at his paws, and, to my utter shock, Blackstar gives him an affectionate lick on the ear before bending down to share the vole with his ginger-colored deputy, Russetfur.

My head is spinning with a completely new perspective of ShadowClan. I climb down from the tree and make my way towards the Thunderpath; I am struggling to understand all that I have just seen. The stories about the malice, greed and malevolence of ShadowClan…could they all be false?

Maybe.

Maybe the darkest part of the forest isn't the darkest after all.

……

**Yay ShadowClan! Could you guess who was narrating? If not… -drum roll- Spiderpaw! Yep, Spiderpaw. I love this little guy as an apprentice, all clumsy and clueless, but as a warrior, he totally sucks. **

**Did you like it? I thought it was a little rushed, but…oh well. We can't have all the time in the world, now can we? Lol…review! **


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